Lockland, Lebanon decide school levies

LOCKLAND – One of the region's smallest school districts asked voters Tuesday to approve one of the area's largest tax levies in recent years and it lost big while voters in Lebanon Schools renewed a school tax.

The district's school board has already filed the same 11.2-mill levy for the Nov. 4 ballot and Lockland Superintendent Matt Bishop warned residents the financial needs of the district will only worsen if voters again say "no" in the fall.

Bishop said the district lags others in the region in providing resources for students and if another levy defeat occurs in November, those deficiencies will only worsen.

"We're kind of stagnant and just getting by because we can't offer to our students what other districts are offering," said Bishop.

If the levy had passed it would have added an additional $746,425 annually for day-to-day operations of the schools.

Lockland homeowners would have paid an addition $392 per year for the property tax hike.

Bishop said the next levy vote is paramount because "this is the cheapest the levy will cost with this vote and the next one in November."

Timing is also key, he said, in that another levy defeat will mean Lockland can't go back to the ballot until 2015 and any passage of a levy in that year will not see new local tax revenue collected until the start of 2016.

Lebanon Schools avoided program budget cuts with its win at the ballot.

The continued $4.2 million in tax reveune from the renewal levy will allow the district to maintain existing school programs, said Lebanon officials.

Lebanon officials also had planned to place the same levy renewal on the November ballot if Tuesday's results were not in their favor

Mark North, superintendent of Lebanon Schools, said of the victory: "This levy allows us to continue to operate the district without making tremendous cuts to programs, classes and staff. We are grateful for the continuous support we receive from our community."

Voters in Hamilton County's Mt. Healthy overwhelmingly approved a renewal tax for the city's fire and EMS services by a margin of 93 to 7 percent.■